SouthState Bank Bets on Banker Hiring as It Eyes Faster Loan Growth in 2027

Key Points

• SouthState is leaning on organic growth and banker recruitment after integrating Independent Financial, expanding its commercial relationship team by about 13% in the first year of a two-year hiring plan. The bank says Texas and Colorado are now growing at a pace similar to its Southeast operations.
• Loan growth is expected to moderate to mid-single digits in the fourth quarter, then return to the mid- to upper-single-digit range in 2027. SouthState is not planning to enter additional states, and management sees acquisitions as less central to growth than before.
• Management expects rate changes and repricing maturing fixed-rate loans to be roughly neutral to modestly positive for net interest margin. It is also monitoring possible over-earning by businesses exposed to the data-center construction boom, particularly in the Dallas-to-Austin corridor.

SouthState Bank NYSE: SSB is emphasizing organic growth and banker recruitment after integrating its acquisition of Independent Financial, with executives expecting loan growth to moderate in the fourth quarter before returning to a mid- to upper-single-digit range in 2027.

Chairman and CEO John Corbett told the BancAnalysts Association of Boston Conference that loans grew 9% year over year and deposits rose 7%. He said SouthState had increased its commercial relationship management team by about 13% in the first year of a two-year plan to expand it by 15% to 20%.

Corbett said the company had sought to hire bankers amid disruption from mergers involving other regional banks. SouthState estimated that $124 billion of deposits in metropolitan areas where it has branches would go through systems conversions as a result of deals announced in 2025.

Growth and acquisition strategy

SouthState’s loan pipeline fell about 14% after the third quarter, although it remained slightly higher than the $4.8 billion level at the beginning of the year, Corbett said. He attributed part of the decline to completed deals and said a September interest-rate increase had also coincided with a dip in the pipeline.

Corbett expects mid-single-digit loan growth in the fourth quarter, followed by a return to mid- to upper-single-digit growth in 2027. He described 10% growth as an aspiration and said the bank had reached the upper end of its 2026 guidance for mid- to upper-single-digit growth.

The Independent acquisition, which closed in early 2025, brought SouthState into Texas and Colorado. Corbett said those markets are now growing at the same pace as the bank’s Southeast operations, while the Texas commercial sales force expanded 22% in one year.

SouthState is not looking to expand into additional states, Corbett said, and acquisitions are less valuable to the company than during its earlier period of consolidation. He expects longer-term annual sales force expansion to settle at roughly 5% to 10% as the bank balances loan and deposit growth.

Corbett said SouthState had repurchased 5% of its shares over the preceding year, equivalent to retiring about 20% of the shares issued in connection with the Independent acquisition. He also said the deal’s estimated earn-back period had shortened from roughly two years at announcement to closer to one year.

Margin and fee businesses

Chief Strategy Officer Steve Young said about 39% of SouthState’s loan book, or approximately $20 billion, is floating rate. He said the bank’s forecast included the September rate increase and another in December, with the combined effect expected to be roughly neutral to modestly positive for net interest margin as the bank manages deposit pricing.

Young also pointed to approximately $5 billion of legacy fixed-rate loans coming due over the next five quarters at an average coupon of about 5.15%. Repricing those loans could support margin, depending on the yield curve, he said. Approximately $1 billion of securities also reprices annually.

SouthState’s correspondent capital markets business generated around $90 million in revenue in the prior year and serves about 1,200 financial institutions and asset managers, Young said. The business provides fixed-income services, interest-rate swaps and foreign-exchange payments, among other products.

Young said the bank plans to roll out a foreign-exchange hedging platform for commercial clients and other banks, and is developing commodity hedging capabilities for clients including those in its Texas energy portfolio.

AI spending and credit monitoring

Corbett said it was too early to quantify artificial intelligence’s effect on SouthState’s efficiency ratio. However, with much of the bank’s technology infrastructure build-out complete, management expects support-area full-time equivalent staffing to remain flat in 2027 and potentially beyond, while continuing to add sales personnel.

On credit risk, Corbett said SouthState has asked underwriters to consider whether businesses in markets with substantial data center construction may be temporarily over-earning. He highlighted the Dallas-to-Austin corridor and said elevated demand for contractors, suppliers and hotels may not prove sustainable.

About SouthState Bank (NYSE:SSB)

SouthState Bank is a regional banking institution and the principal banking subsidiary of SouthState Corporation NYSE: SSB. The bank provides financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer and commercial loans, residential mortgages, credit cards and online and mobile banking.

SouthState also offers business banking and treasury-management services, commercial real estate lending, equipment financing, wealth management and investment services.

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